When is the right time to invest in Performance PR?

In this is blog – the first in our “Your Questions Answered” series – Senior Content Creator Hugh Cadman addresses an important point raised during Whiteoaks’ webinar on Global PR Growth Strategies for B2B Tech Brands.

He covers:  

• Why scale-ups should tell their story 
• The growth and investment benefits of telling it in the right way 
• Who can help them stand out in their market 

It’s a tricky question – when exactly is the right time to invest in PR to propel your business into the stratosphere? As a start-up or scale-up, or when your company is officially declared a “growing business”?  

Start-ups and the need for ignition

Most start-ups are busy with the task of establishing themselves, developing or finessing the product or service. They may worry they have no news to tell their audiences about and really should be focusing on generating investment or gaining customers.  

But almost every start-up has an exciting idea at its core – and its founders are likely to have distinctive insights on the market, technology and the challenges they solve. All this could be the fuel for an effective Performance PR campaign, working to measurable outcomes to ensure scarce cash is not frittered away. Well-crafted articles, blogs or comments in the right publications can really ignite interest for a start-up in need of a profile in its market. 

This is the most effective way to build the brand awareness needed for customer growth and to spur investor backing. 

Scale-ups have a good story

For scale-ups it is a different story. With a fully-developed product or service, they always have important multi-faceted messages to communicate. Sometimes, amid all the pressures of expansion, they just haven’t got round to it. That can be a strategic error because competitors in a similar stage of maturity may already have launched PR initiatives. Established brands, on the other hand, will use PR to starve any challengers of oxygen. 

Scale-ups seeking experienced investors may also find their lack of PR activity works against them. VC and private equity companies know that however brilliant your voice, singing in your own bathroom will not make you a star.  

Timing is everything

Unsurprisingly, despite the best efforts of business schools, there is no calculus that can tell you if now is the exact point at which you should invest in PR.  

As a B2B organisation, you need to take stock to see if you really have the product, solution, service and story to win an audience – and whether the timing is right. Are you ready to meet the demand or interest you may create? In most cases, the answer is surely yes. 

The way Performance PR works for scale-ups

Almost all scale-ups need PR just to compete. With expert help from specialists in Performance PR, young companies can use their story to win more customers or fresh investment. Performance PR works just as well whether you’re seeking acquisition by one of the giants of any sector, or attempting to attract scarce talent needed to take the business into new areas. 

Potential leadership frustrations

One fact that all leadership teams should take into consideration is that in the B2B tech sector, PR requires experience and a little time. This can be a step change for business founders or small leadership teams accustomed to explosive growth and rapid impact. While results can certainly show up quickly, long-term benefits from PR in the B2B tech sector need more than press releases drafted by LLMs like Copilot or ChatGPT.  

Providing the fuel for PR requires collaborative work to determine the right messaging and most effective tactics to reach the right people. Some scale-ups find they have been working on assumptions – and it takes Performance PR specialists to identify the right audiences and how best to reach them.  

The pain-free approach to B2B tech PR

This is where there is a huge advantage in using a Peformance PR agency. A specialist B2B tech agency working to Performance PR methodology will take the pain out of these processes. And it will measure results from a campaign. This is an approach that can pay dividends for young businesses in the B2B tech world, where informality, time-pressure and a certain amount of improvisation are part of everyday life.  

The boards of young businesses should see Performance PR as a strategic investment that will help achieve growth and their critical objectives. So, if you ask yourself when it’s the right time to invest in Performance PR, the answer is usually NOW. 

View the webinar that triggered this blog and get in touch to find out how we can support your business in achieving its growth ambitions.